Journal article
Reimagining and radicalizing community development practice in south-east Queensland through popular education action research
Community Development Journal, Vol.56(2), pp.283-299
2021
Abstract
This article analyses the ways community development in Australia has succumbed to neoliberal forces resulting in conservative or reformist practice. Ledwith (Community Development in Action: Putting Freire into Practice, 2015, Policy Press, UK.) argues that popular education theory is a useful vehicle through which community development can recover its emancipatory intentions and take on a more critical role in strategising and acting for structural changes. This article reports on a participatory action research project undertaken in Australia in 2017, to explore what the Popular Education tradition could bring to the field of community development within south-east Queensland. The research aim was to theory-test the possibilities of popular education for influencing contemporary community development in an era of hegemonic service-delivery and welfare work within Australia. Practitioners were exposed to a series of popular education workshops, grounding a clear experiential model for taking theory into action that can advance social justice agendas and further their work. Findings from the project reveal that it is possible to stimulate thinking about radical practice with popular education theory. Moreover, exploration of the theory needs forums and communities of practice for collective critical reflection. Such processes provide both theoretical knowledge and collegial support for practitioners to experiment with actions in line with the radical tradition, and thus develop a radical praxis to resist the worst elements of neoliberalism.
Details
- Title
- Reimagining and radicalizing community development practice in south-east Queensland through popular education action research
- Authors
- Athena Lathouras (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Social Sciences - LegacyPeter Westoby (Author) - Queensland University of TechnologyLynda Shevellar (Author) - University of Queensland
- Publication details
- Community Development Journal, Vol.56(2), pp.283-299
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Date published
- 2021
- DOI
- 10.1093/cdj/bsz008
- ISSN
- 0010-3802
- Copyright note
- This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Community Development Journal following peer review. The version of record Athena Lathouras, Peter Westoby, Lynda Shevellar, Reimagining and radicalizing community development practice in south-east Queensland through popular education action research, Community Development Journal, Volume 56, Issue 2, April 2021, Pages 283–299, https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bsz008 is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bsz008
- Organisation Unit
- School of Social Sciences - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Law and Society; Sustainability Research Cluster
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99450761502621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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